Lottery madness

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In just the few months since conducting the popular "a loser's lottery" research, we've had two recent entrants into the Top 9 lottery jackpots ever (recall that the largest lottery ever was won just earlier in 2016).  These prizes are nearly 200% funded by an overall perilously increased spending in gambling, among >20 million unwealthy Americans, was predicted in this original article.  The wasteful spending of hard-earned savings has unfortunately picked up dramatically since the global financial crisis.  In this article we shed light on some interesting facts exposed by simply contrasting the amount of gambling play now, versus in earlier years.  It is the goal of this research into the Lottery to dispel notions that this is a safe financial product, and now we hope at least one household is saved from a lawsuit or bailout, for guaranteed poverty by being duped of all of their reasonable levels of savings (which again in some cases amounts to nearly 1/2 a million dollars) on the Lottery.  If you are acutely interested in the probability mathematics behind the lottery, then the prequel article is for you.

In this chart below we show the total amount of prize money within the Top 9 lotteries ever, assuming today's Mega Millions jackpot of at least $449 million.  The pie chart is shaded by the year of the prize.  Without surprise, 100% of these prizes also occurred since the global financial crisis.  Further, we see that at least 41% of the total prize money collectively among the Top 9, have been during just in the first 1/2 of 2016!  This is a significant escalation for the engineered reasons noted in the prequel article linked above.  

 

 
It is important to note that when the lottery jackpot starts rising over ~$300 million, then we typically see during the semi-weekly drawings that tens of millions of Americans will waste over $100 million in total.  Of these people, only several thousand (<0.1%) will simply break-even on their ticket spending on any given drawing (let alone win the main prize).  Everyone else again got nothing from the gambling, where "no one's going to Lotto" should be the motto.  Is this the type of behavior the government needs to be marketing and promoting, with your own money?  You can also, as we saw the probability charts relative to spending, blow 20 million tickets weekly for one month.  Even then still be unlikely to win.

We also noted in the prequel article that "lucky" 7 is often inefficiently chosen or picked by customers.  And this leads the time between winnings to sometimes stretch a little further each time, as customers cluster into similar numbers even though each one has an equal chance of being picked.  For example, it's been >4 months since we've had a Mega Millions winner.  Doesn't matter though, in every drawing 94% of any picked number won't be drawn at all (and bear in mind that you have to match more than just several of these numbers simply to break-even).

The spending levels again are dismaying.  See the illustration here for the appalling amount of hard-earned fortune that most regular players in your state will throw away in their lifetime, "playing lotto".  It's not pocket change for anyone, and for most it was enough to buy their dreams that was already in hand before the government lottery snatched it from them!

We also know it’s been somber days since the global financial crisis.  But the Lottery should not be the financial solution to which more citizens are increasingly turning.  Notice the amount of money plowed into the game has accelerated into quicker wins, and the generally increased pick up in spending, all since 2008?

It should be noted that we have among the highest ever level of spending currently, if combining both multi-states, Powerball and Mega Millions.  While on the broader scheme, while 0.01% will break-even on any single drawing, >99.999999% of the >20 million regular players won't win their money back over their lifetime of playing.  So this is certainly not versus prudent financial savings!  Put differently, Powerball & Mega Millions lottery jackpots together have now amassed at >$702 million (so Top 0.2%: a multi-year event!)

And in just recent years we've seen the trends in the U.S. Education Department's ungovernable ability to successfully solicit record amounts of money from hard-working, but mathematically & financially impotent Americans.  See the illustration below showing this slow motion mishap, forming similar to a bubble pattern that won't end peacefully.  We use the same time segments as above for analytical ease.  These again are not wealthy Americans throwing pocket change around for entertainment.  The Lottery is held up by unwealthy Americans being encouraged to fund a fantasy, only to be left more devastated than before.

The Lottery topic is becoming so popular that it is now the most trending on social media as well!  But by learning more about the Lottery, and it's net harmful effects for most Americans involved, we can put a hurtful dent in their operations.  Please do so by sharing these findings.

Finally, our esteemed blog followers have also added insights.  Treasury executives Barnshaw and Donovan for example amusingly asked if this is what I meant by "a loser's lottery".  We retort, why would a couple stealing $175k then immediately play lottery?  And the worst of times call for desperate measures.  We now see successfully racing around Capital Hill in a modified ice cream truck, selling tickets to the last lot!  When will it end?ccThis picture below was submitted by SEC and CFPB attorney Raso.  And MIT professor Hannah has texted me evidence of how even brainy Bostonians spend a multiple of the national average (see U.S. map above): shelling out >$20 for instant scratch-off tricks each day, while awaiting their Boston "T" subway.  Feel free to share and submit your own stories about the Lottery.